The Notre Dame College Men's basketball team will open MEC play on Saturday when the Falcons battle the Cardinals of Wheeling University in a battle of the birds at the McDonough Center. You can catch all the action on NotreDameFalcons.com as tip time is slated for approximately 4 PM (or 30 minutes after the 2 PM Women's contest.)
NDC (2-0) comes in flying high after a sweep at the Conference Challenge on the campus of Slippery Rock. They opened with a stunning comeback from 21 points down with nine minutes to go to shock the host ("The Rock) 99-95. In game two of the weekend NDC held off a late rally from Seton Hill to knock off the Griffins 90-83.
NDC Coach Mark Richmond talked about what he expects at Wheeling tomorrow, and the beginning of the conference slate:
" We are excited for another challenging year in the Mountain East Conference. We played two close games with Wheeling a year ago and I expect the same on Saturday,"Richmond mentioned.
NDC comes into Saturday's contest averaging 96.0 points per game, while allowing 90.5 per contest. They shot the ball extremely well last weekend, as they shot 54 percent from the field, 51 percent (21-41) from the 3-point line, and shot at a 77 percent clip from the free throw line. NDC has been out rebounded by 4.5 points per night (33-37.5) but have manufactured 8.5 steals per game in the first two.
Junior Jaedon Willis (Baltimore, MD.) is pacing the Falcons in scoring at 24.5 points per contest. He is followed by junior Tyland Crawford (Woodbridge, Va.) who is scoring 16 points per night to go with five rebounds a contest. Mike Sampson (junior Houston, TX) is putting up 15.5 points per game in the early season and leads the team with 6.5 rebounds a night. John Godinez (redshirt freshman Baltimore, MD.) has been very efficient on the offensive end scoring 13.5 points per game on 65 percent shooting from the field, and shooting at a 67 percent clip (4-6) from the 3-point line. Godinez talked about being efficient:
" I know I don't have to score a lot with this team with the scorers that we have on this team. I'm just trying to do my job and control the game but when I get a chance to score I will so I have to stay efficient and take good shots for the team,"Godinez explained.
Junior Mike Kirkland (Sacramento, Cal) has provided a spark off the NDC bench in the early season putting up 11 points and five rebounds per night.
Wheeling opened the season at the WLU classic where they split a pair of games against East Strousburg (72-70win) and Winston Salem State (66-65 loss.) The Cardinals lost a pair of games this week losing to Malone 90-72 before being thrashed 99-38 by Division I University of Akron last night (Thursday.) In the opener against East Strousburg Jordan Reid led the Cardinals with 20, while Jay Gentry scored 15, and Jarret Haines (14.) The Cardinals shot 45 percent from the field, 21 percent from the 3-point line, and 86 percent (19-22) from the free throw line in the contest. In the second game of the WLU classic Jordan Reading led Wheeling with 17 points and seven rebounds, Andrew Taylor tallied a double-double with 15 points and 11 boards, while Haines rounded out the double digit scorers with 13. As a team the Cardinals shot 38 percent from the field, 17 percent from the 3-point line (3-18) and 76 percent (22-29) from the free throw line.
In the loss to Malone Haines led three players in double figures with 22, as John Korte scored 16, Jay Gentry netted 15, and Jordan Reid contributed 13. As a team Wheeling shot 44 percent from the field, 46 percent (6-13) from the 3-point line, and 71 percent (10-14) at the free throw line. In the game against Akron Haines scored nine, and Korte had seven.
Richmond gave another thought about this one:
" Wheeling has a veteran team with a lot of experience back. I'm looking forward to seeing how our team handles its business on the road in what I expect to be a great atmosphere against a talented opponent."
Other MEC Games Saturday:
Concord @ Charleston
Fairmont State @ Davis & Elkins
Alderson Broaddus @ West Liberty
Frostburg State @ West Virginia Wesleyan
MEC Standings:
Fairmont State 3-0 (0-0)
West Liberty 3-0 (0-0)
NDC 2-0 (0-0)
Glenville State 1-0 (0-0)
Charleston 2-1 (0-0)
West Virginia State 2-1 (0-0)
Alderson Broaddus 2-1 (0-0)
Wheeling 1-2 (0-0)
Concord 1-2 (0-0)
Davis & Elkins 1-2 (0-0)
West Virginia Wesleyan 1-2 (0-0)
Frostburg State 0-3 (0-0)
Comments